BJGP Life – Page 5

Seven Children – Inequality and Britain’s Next Generation, by Danny Dorling

...not only will you get a better appreciation of society as a whole, you will also understand better where you find yourself within that society.

10 May 2025

3 mins read

Book review

Lost Children of the Empire: the Untold Story of Britain’s Child Migrants

"In Philip Bean and Joy Melville’s bleak and rather depressing book, Lost Children of the Empire: the Untold Story of Britain's Child Migrants, they detail the systematic and sustained deportation of thousands of children from the UK against their will and without

9 May 2025

3 mins read

BJGP Long Read·Opinion·Stories

Clinical courage

Clinical courage is a term that has emerged in the field of rural general practice, particularly in Canada and Australia. Caroline McCarthy reflects on how it manifested for her.

8 May 2025

3 mins read

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

A sombre anniversary and a call for the RCGP to lead on better healthcare for people with learning disability

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the care of people with learning disability have grown alongside each other - Peter Linday argues that they now must come together for the benefit of all.

7 May 2025

10 mins read

Clinical·Podcast·Videos

Episode 202: Prescribing testosterone in hypoactive sexual desire disorder – how to initiate it, and how to monitor it in general practice

In this episode, we discuss testosterone treatment in HSDD.

6 May 2025

1 min read

International·Opinion·Stories

The days of small things

...I sensed that they also lived in a different dimension of time. The soft chattering of the patients waiting and sitting on the grass outside the clinic had an unhurried acceptance of just waiting. Storied reflection from rural general practice in South

5 May 2025

5 mins read

Book review

The Doctor as the Patient: Doctors Recount Their Experiences on the Other Side of the Consultation Desk

"The Doctor as the Patient is ... a collection of accounts from those who have found themselves '[S]eeing life from the other side of the consultation desk' and their reflections on this experience ..." - Samantha Scallan reviews The Doctor as the

3 May 2025

5 mins read

1

BJGP Long Read·Bright Ideas and Innovation·Opinion

Clerical error, clinical risk, and the automation of primary care

In a data-driven healthcare system, the accuracy of clinical and non-clinical values, as well as diagnostic coding entered into records, is crucial for delivering appropriate and timely care. A cautionary case study inviting audit and discussion.

30 April 2025

5 mins read

BJGP Long Read·Book review

Netflix’s Adolescence: an unsettling reminder of the toxic effect of social media on children

Adolescence brought home, quite literally, the reality of the potential dangers of modern life in a digital world. It not only made me reflect on how technology might be shaping my children; but on what implications will it have for clinical practice.

28 April 2025

7 mins read

1

Book review

‘A Body Made of Glass – A Cultural History of Hypochondria’ by Caroline Crampton

‘A Body Made of Glass’ is a beautifully written and informative book, part memoir, part history of medicine and part literary analysis. This journey through history is interspersed with some vivid descriptions of Crampton’s own lived experience...

26 April 2025

3 mins read

2

Opinion·Stories

The side-lying leg raise and a reflection on being the patient

But this self-indulgent reflection on my potential physio appointment has led me to reflect on the patients I saw today. Was I curious? Was I attentive? Did I help them navigate their own story or was I quick to jump in with

25 April 2025

3 mins read

Opinion

It is time we talk about the duties of a patient

"... while patients' rights have been well-defined, the corresponding duties of a patient are rarely articulated [...] Just as doctors must adhere to professional standards, patients should be expected to fulfil certain duties — to themselves, healthcare professionals, the health system, society,

24 April 2025

5 mins read

1

Book review

Book review: Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip

"Once upon a time, the UK Government seemed powerful and great, much like the Wizard of Oz. But just like in the Oz story, when the curtain was pulled back, the reality wasn’t as impressive. Instead, the hierarchy and dysfunction seem to

22 April 2025

3 mins read

BJGP Long Read·Opinion·Stories

Grief in the consultation room: Alma, my daughter, and the hidden curriculum of loss

There is still so much stigma and invisibility around pregnancy loss. Patients are often encouraged to “move on.” Clinicians are often too afraid of saying the wrong thing—so they say nothing at all.

18 April 2025

3 mins read

2

Opinion·Stories

Integrated Neighbourhood Teams: a near future…

Dave Mummery offers a dystopian vision of integrated neighbourhood teams two years from now (let's avoid this version). Soundtrack included.

17 April 2025

4 mins read

BJGP Long Read·Clinical

Enteral Feeding for Patients with Dementia – An ethical critique of the clinical and economic considerations

Clovis Faggion Junior explores the economic motivations behind the continued application of enteral feeding in patients with advanced dementia, proposing that various stakeholders may have financial or logistical incentives to sustain this practice despite limited medical benefits.

16 April 2025

5 mins read

Arts

Unfurling

Not the landlocked, shuffling prison. Even acid-green woggled she’s beautiful in the water, looser. Untangled. A poem.

15 April 2025

1 min read

Research

Yonder: Extended access, GP retention, registrar wellbeing interventions, and contacts post-paediatric admission

Yonder is a diverse selection of primary care relevant research stories from beyond the mainstream biomedical literature ...

14 April 2025

3 mins read

1

BJGP Long Read·Coronavirus·Opinion

Could GPs’ understanding and management of Long Covid and ME be improved by conceptualising those conditions in terms of ‘premature frailty’?

Elke Hausmann proposes a way of looking at Long Covid and ME that might engender a better understanding in GPs for patients living with these devastating and life changing conditions.

11 April 2025

6 mins read

9

Arts·Stories

Fight or Flight

‘Trauma is patient, doc, if it's one thing I've learnt.’ His pale green eyes fix on mine dark pupils with an infinity of space. A poem by Giles Dawnay

10 April 2025

1 min read

2

Opinion

A new year & a new DES: is this a chance to regain control?

The introduction of the new DES from April 2025 has again been heralded as an opportunity for primary care to take control and lead on improving the range of services available to patients. James Bennett reflects.

9 April 2025

3 mins read

1

Opinion

How long does general practice take?

"... to my surprise, I’ve become the sort of doctor that has been in the same clinic for 20 years. I’ve never been bored, I’ve often been anxious, and I’ve been privileged to witness some of the most amazing and some of the

8 April 2025

2 mins read

1

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

Access to general practice

The Health Foundation has recently identified that the public’s first big priority across the NHS is to make it easier to get an appointment at their GP practice. Nada Khan explores what meaningful access looks like in general practice.

7 April 2025

6 mins read

1

BJGP Long Read·Book review·Coronavirus

Suzanne O’Sullivan’s new book ‘The Age of Diagnosis’ and her curious characterisation of Long Covid as a psychosomatic condition

O'Sullivan and others fail to recognise the likelihood that most Long Covid patients will have already tried psychological and behavioural approaches ... the idea that there might be issues that, if addressed, could cure you, is the only thing we have left.

5 April 2025

7 mins read

20

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

What is Illness?

Peter Toon considers how public debates inform why we define a condition as illness rather than another type of problem, and the implications of this.

4 April 2025

10 mins read

3

BJGP Long Read·Opinion·Stories

Getting an upgrade

Taking a look at her consultation model feels like the least painful of her goals to try and get done, and so she takes hold of the flaking metal handrail, slowly breathes in and out to centre herself, and walks down the

3 April 2025

4 mins read

2

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

Obesity’s hidden drivers suggest that drugs need not be the answer

Obesity and maintaining a healthy weight are more complicated than excess calories and a lack of exercise. Too often, we are at the mercy of a complex interplay between our genes, personal health matters, the food we eat, the behaviour of those

2 April 2025

9 mins read

1

Clinical·Podcast·Videos

Episode 201: Looking back at the BJGP Research Conference 2025

In this episode, we look back at the 2025 BJGP Research Conference.

1 April 2025

1 min read

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

Science and spirituality in primary Care: Is there common ground?

"Many general practitioners consider spirituality to be relevant to their patients’ health and important to primary care. However, our research showed that a number of GPs worry that addressing this issue is unscientific." Alistair Appleby offers 4 approaches.

31 March 2025

7 mins read

4

Book review

“Facing Down the Furies: Suicide, the Ancient Greeks, and me,” by Edith Hall

Using a combination of a candid personal memoir, philosophy and her expert knowledge of ancient Greek tragedy, Edith Hall discusses neglected topic of the consequences of suicide.

29 March 2025

1 min read

BJGP

The familiar and strange art of diagnosis

Diagnosis ... provides structure to a narrative of dysfunction, or a picture of disarray, and imposes official order, sorting out the real from the imagined, the valid from the feigned, the significant from the insignificant ... In Life and Times this month

28 March 2025

3 mins read

1

BJGP Long Read·Opinion

Vaccine accessibility should not be a barrier to flu jab uptake

With high infection rates and the prevalence of numerous demotivating influences on vaccine uptake, a programme which focusses on negating the controllable barrier of inaccessibility is essential, argue Paul McNamara and Scott Wylie.

27 March 2025

4 mins read

Clinical·Podcast·Videos

Episode 200: The challenges to diagnosing vulval lichen sclerosus and how to get it right

In this episode, we discuss diagnosis of vulval lichen sclerosus in general practice.

25 March 2025

1 min read

Arts·Opinion

Making art and making meaning: the value of art-making in medical education in the UK and beyond

"It is March 2021. We’ve endured two lockdowns and a year of remote learning. We should be holding our Easter awayday for the GP registrars... but instead I am peering into my laptop. But in a miracle of communication, an artist on

24 March 2025

4 mins read

BJGP Long Read

Don’t kill Granny, send her to the gym!

"As a GP, I had many patients who told me how lucky they were to be so well in old age. My response was always the same — that they were not lucky but had looked after themselves, mainly by keeping very

21 March 2025

7 mins read

BJGP Long Read·Stories

David Eder: a GP for his time, raising questions for ours

"I am struck by how Eder pursued three passions – socialism, Zionism and psychoanalysis – that were all cutting edge causes for most progressive people in his time but have largely diverged from each other since then and become contested or marginalised."

20 March 2025

3 mins read

Clinical·Podcast·Videos

Episode 199: Differential attainment in the MRCGP exam – language of study and what this means for the future of RCGP exams

In this episode, we discuss differential attainment in the MRCGP exams.

18 March 2025

1 min read

Research

Yonder: Screening for atrial fibrillation, antibiotics in care homes, hand, foot, and mouth disease, and asthma triple therapy

Yonder is a diverse selection of primary care relevant research stories from beyond the mainstream biomedical literature.

17 March 2025

3 mins read

Book review

Book review: GPs, Politics and the Medical Professional Protest in Britain, 1880–1948

As Chris Locke demonstrates in his timely analysis of GPs, politics and the medical professional protest in Britain 1880-1948, GP's concerns about insufficient pay, workload, not being valued and fears that independence will be taken from them are not new.

15 March 2025

8 mins read

News

The Kieran Sweeney Prize 2025 (A national UK prize for medical writing by GPs)

This year's title is: “The GP model for delivery of Primary Care is outdated for the society in 2025” Find out how to enter!

14 March 2025

2 mins read

1

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